I Corinthians 13:4-7, says that “love is patient, love is kind…It does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered …it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” True love would never violate any of these truths. Yet, some would like to believe that in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet truly loved Ophelia and only pretended to view her as a trifle. However, how can Hamlet truly have admired Ophelia if he treated her with such disgrace and nonchalance? Because of the way he handles her throughout the play, his attentions to her appear to spawn more out of entertainment than out of affection. Because of Hamlet’s disregard for kindness, his inability to provide comfort for Ophelia, his ambitious motives for treating her poorly, and his nonchalance when speaking to her, Hamlet proves through his actions that he never truly loved Ophelia, yet used her for mere gain.
Regardless of whether Hamlet had feigned insanity, he would have never been so unkind to Ophelia and her father if he had really loved her. Whenever Polonius wishes to speak to Hamlet and ascertain his emotions, Hamlet asks him if he has a daughter. When he replies that indeed he does, Hamlet advises Polonius to “let her not walk i’th’ sun” (2.2.184). Though, Polonius perceives this statement as advice not to allow Ophelia to walk in public, Hamlet clearly means that Ophelia should not listen to or follow her father. She should not walk in the sun—her father’s light. No one who truly loves someone else will insult her family, especially not her mother or father. Hamlet would have respected Polonius. He even degrades Polonius when speaking to Ophelia. When Hamlet asks her where her fathe...
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...reated her poorly to appear more insane; but, what kind of love would include belittling someone for gain? He never even put weight in what she said. Even if she had no mind to think for herself, Hamlet would not have cared if he truly loved her. Hamlet’s so-called affections for Ophelia were just that—so-called and nonexistent.
Works Cited
Jameson, Anna. “Ophelia.” Shakespeare's Heroines: Characteristics of Women, Moral, Poetical and Historical. London : George Bell and Sons, 1891. Web. 3 February 2014.
Lycee, Jean. “Hamlet’s Love for Ophelia.” Danielle.Esposito.index. Web. 3 February 2014.
Martin, Helena. Shakespeare's Female Characters. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1888. Web. 1 February 2014.
New International Version Bible. Ed. Zondervan. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Oxford University Press: 1992. Print.
Living in an environment of deception and hostility, the reader can easily identify with Hamlet's anger. Most all compassionate audiences will be sympathetic to his plight. However, the origins of Hamlet's vehement actions toward his once beloved Ophelia can be debated from several different points of view. Whatever his reasoning may be, it is probably correct to assume that he regrets deeply every harsh world spoken toward Ophelia. He only realizes again what a beautiful and kind person she was- after her death.
He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience the corruptions of sexuality. Hamlet blames the bad woman he is intimately intertwined with for his indecisiveness between a man 's power and the ability to do right. He acts as though it would be strange for him to not be cruel to women. Another display of his rudeness is his mocking of them. Knowing that Ophelia is obsessed and affectionate towards him, he taunted her. He purposely gave her false hope, immediately after telling her how stupid she is, by saying to her “I did love you once" (3.1.114). Ironically, he then proceeds to state the truth: that he never loved her, to which she reveals “I was the more deceived” (3.1.118). Now, having lost all his patience, he commands her to go to a nunnery. He also tells her that he did not love her and would have rather not been born. In the quote "accuse me of such things that it was better my mother had not borne me” (3.1.120-121). This quote makes it clear that he is homosexual and will always continue to be such, stating he would never prefer existing to loving a woman. He is even incapable of loving his mother as once before. Throughout the story, he is almost constantly complaining and condemning her for being disloyal to his father, which only further proves to him that women are incapable of truly loving anyone. On his deathbed, he holds to his homosexual nature and voices his haughty farewell to his mother, "Wretched queen, adieu!” (5.2.306) this perfectly highlights the division he had between the two genders even to his deathbed; Unmannerly vs.
In order to sway everyone in Elsinore that Hamlet was insane, he first sells his insanity to Ophelia because he knows of her loyalty to her father. By convincing her, he would convince her father and the king. Despite his successful plan of "craziness", he severs many relationships with friends and family, especially with his believed-to-be lover. After verbally assaulting her in the castle, Ophelia takes his words "I loved you not" (3.1.117) and "...what monsters you make of them" (3.1.134-35) to heart and she feels betrayed and abandoned. Once again, the relationship is demolished. However, upon Ophelia 's death, Hamlet professes, "I loved Ophelia; forty-thousand brothers / could not match with all their quantity of love / make up my sum" (5.1.236-38). The readers learn in Act V that Hamlet 's love for Ophelia was indeed genuine despite his previous actions and words.
Hamlet, Ophelia’s lover, accidentally kills her father and “confesses” he never loved her, Hamlet toys with Ophelia's emotions intentionally and unintentionally to solidify his madness. Even though she was the who initiated the “breakup”, her sorrows of the relationship are much more public than Hamlets. Hamlet’s madness scares Ophelia away which he used as a defense mechanism to not be hurt anymore. His madness looks as though he had been "loosed out of hell to speak of horrors" (2.1.83-84) and she "truly [did] fear it"(2.1. 86). His insanity and rudeness suffocated any love she had for him. She admits that their "their perfume [has been] lost" (3.1. 99). This helped Hamlet solidify his insanity by cutting ties with the ones he loves, and having them tell others he is mad. This comes with the cost of discontinuing his relationships: especially with Ophelia. Both have hinted around in the text of an intimate affair. This makes the emotions and breakup even more difficult for both of them. Their relationship was a love, not an innocent crush or courtship. Poor Ophelia initially thought she caused Hamlet's madness due to the abrupt ending of their affair. But because of her naivety, she lacks to see his other internal struggles. Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet left her heartbroken. Hamlet’s agenda of or getting justice for his father occupied his mind more than Ophelia did. Which left her feeling
In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, we observe Hamlet as an incredibly complex and bewildering character that upon first glance, seems to undergo a plethora of predicaments. Upon identification of such obstacles, we begin to wonder about whether his entirely fictitious existence in the play classifies him as sane while the world around him is in a way, insane or vise-versa. In addition, one of the main problems that superficially seems to be at the root of his conflicts is his melancholy. This is a condition that has always identified with him throughout the entire play, even still presenting itself up until the very end of Act V. In conclusion, the cause of his affliction is generally simplistic but drawn-out, serving to impact his actions significantly.
Hamlet truly loved Ophelia, In my eyes, and I do believe that if his mind was not clouded with anger, he would’ve done nothing to ever harm her. Hamlet without even realizing, because of his insanity used Ophelia as a release for his anger, and eventually drove her mad. He basically tortured Ophelia without even knowing, not only by the progression of anger and rejection towards her, but also by killing her own father.
Hamlet treats Ophelia like property and because he does not care for her. This is proven because he insults Ophelia, uses her to get his revenge on Claudius and uses her as a way to get attention. To begin with, Hamlet abuses Ophelia by accusing her of having impure motives. To him she “jig[s]… amble and …lisp” (3.1.145) to seduce other men. He also accuses her of being deceitful because she changes the “one face [that]…God hath given” to her by putting on cosmetics. Hamlet verbally abuses Ophelia because he believes that she is worthless. Hamlet is not concerned about the effect that these insult have on Ophelia’s psyche. In addition to verbally abusing Ophelia, Hamlet uses Ophelia as a pawn. Hamlet uses Ophelia as a way to get to Claudius by also physically abusing her. Ophelia description of Hamlet’s abuse exhibits Hamlet’s unruly behaviour towards her: “He took me by the wrist and held me hard; then goes he to the length of all his arm” (2.1.88-89). Hamlet physically abuses Ophelia because he knows that Ophelia will report it to her father who in turn will tell Claudius. By doing this, Claudius will think Hamlet is insane and will then lower his guard and will not suspect that Hamlet intents to kill him. Hamlet does not stop to consider what kind mental toll will take on Ophelia, all he cares about is to finishing what his father asked of him. It is apparent
When reading the text, one can comprehend that Ophelia is caught in the middle between two opposite sides. Her family (father and brother) believe that Hamlet is a womanizer rather then the philosopher that he is. They also believe that he will use her in order to achieve his own purposes, and that he would take her precious virginity only to discard it because he would never be her husband. But, Ophelia's heart mesmerized by Hamlets cunning linguistics is set on the fact that Hamlet truly loves her or loved her, even though he swears he never did. In the eye of her father and brother, she will always be a pure, wholesome girl, an eternal virgin in a sense, (due to a parents nature to always see their offspring as a child) they want her to ascend into her stereotypical role in life as a vessel of morality whose sole purpose of existence is to be a obedient wife and a committed mother. However, to Hamlet she is simply an object used to satisfy and fulfill his sexual needs. He also seems to hold her at a distant which suggests that he may...
Last, the love that Hamlet and Ophelia is real but it was also used and at one time even put to an end. So I think that he did once love her but he put her through a lot. Not only did he but also did her father. It is said that Shakespeare’s writing is “so many-sided that this kind of link can never be more than intriguing speculation” (Great Poets, 30).
The reader is left guessing on Hamlet’s true feelings for Ophelia through his various insults, sexual innuendos, and admitted desire. Hamlet’s claim, “God hath given you one face, and you / Make yourselves another.” (3.1.155-156) is laced with irony and hypocrisy given Hamlet’s own deception regarding true feelings. This proclamation comes at the end of a lengthy tirade against Ophelia and womankind in general for their conniving deceit leading men astray. The fact that Hamlet cannot see this duplicity in his very own actions shows the double standard he holds for females. Ophelia’s immediate reaction is one of shock and defense due to the aggressive nature of Hamlet’s attack. She calls out “O, woe is me!” (3.1.174) in distress to the ferocity of Hamlet and is unable to form a particularly coherent response akin to the ones seen against Laertes and Polonius. She does show her intelligence and rebellion from this assumption of power by Hamlet in her songs while Hamlet is gone. While many attribute her madness to the death of her father, a large portion of her instability should be attributed to Hamlet and his earlier actions. In her first introduction as insane she sings, “And I a maid at your window, / To be your Valentine. / Then up he rose and donned his clothes / And dropped the chamber door, / Let in the maid, that out a maid / Never departed more.” (4.5.55-60). Due to her references to sexuality and deceit the
“Pretty Ophelia,” as Claudius calls her, is the most innocent victim of Hamlet’s revenge in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Hamlet has fallen in love with Ophelia after the death of his father. Ophelia “sucked the honey of his music vows” and returned Hamlet’s affection. But when her father had challenged Hamlet’s true intentions, Ophelia could only say: “I do not know, my lord, what I should think.” Ophelia was used to relying on her father’s directions and she was also brought up to be obedient. This allowed her to only accept her father’s views that Hamlet’s attention towards her was only to take advantage of her and to obey her father’s orders not to permit Hamlet to see her again.
Two of Ophelia’s difficulties arise from her father and brother. They believe that Hamlet is using her to take her virginity and throw it away because Ophelia will never be his wife. Her heart believes that Hamlet loves her although he promises he never has (“Hamlet” 1). Hamlet: “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but not the time gives it proof. I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock ...
Hamlet is self-absorbed. He cares more about his own problems than those of his people, and this can be seen in his relationship with Ophelia and how oblivious he is to the emotions of other people. This is a less than ideal quality for a leader to have, as it’s important for a king to put the desires of his people above his own. Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia could never work out, as Laertes points out to Ophelia by saying that “[Hamlet’s] will is not his own, / for he himself is subject to his birth” (I.iii.17-8). Hamlet, however, never realizes that their relationship would not be recognized by the Danish people and pursues Ophelia relentlessly, even after she refuses his advances in Act III Scene i. Hamlet acts brashly towards her during ‘The Mouse-trap’
...ed her horribly and degraded her by saying she was unfit and promiscuous. The confusing relationship she had with Hamlet and death of her father led to Ophelia’s madness and soon after suicide. He was the cause of the murder this is the deterioration of his character and see it when he confesses his love for Ophelia at her funeral that its too late.
A tragedy, in terms of literature, is when the main character is not seen as indestructible. The main character has flaws and a tragic ending. One of the most famous writer of tragedies is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare, author of Hamlet, (biography.com) was alive between the years 1564 and 1616. His occupations were playwriting and poetry and he was brilliant. William, being the poet and play writer he his, wrote almost 400 different pieces. Some of his most famous plays include: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Hamlet is considered a tragedy because Hamlet, the main character, has a character flaw which is being very reluctant. Also throughout the play nothing really seems to go the way that Hamlet plans. Finally, the end of the play ends expectantly with a death from just about every main character except Horatio, Hamlets best friend.